{"id":4233,"date":"2024-12-20T08:24:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T08:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/?p=4233"},"modified":"2024-12-20T08:24:52","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T08:24:52","slug":"how-to-remove-a-tick-from-your-dog-and-what-to-do-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/archives\/4233","title":{"rendered":"How to Remove a Tick from Your Dog and What to Do Next"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class='\"entry-header\"'>\n<div class='\"entry-content\"'>\n<div class='\"entry-content\"'>\n<div class='\"article__body' rte>\n<h3><strong>An Interview with Tick Expert Dan Wolff of TickEase\n<p>What should you do if you find a tick on your dog? Dog owners are rightfully concerned about ticks biting their four-legged friends, especially in tick endemic areas like the northeast, and there are lots of questions! How do I protect my dog from ticks? What\u2019s the best way to remove\u00a0one? Tick expert Dan Wolff has the answers and he shares them in this video interview and guide.\n</p><div>\n<div class='\"video-wrapper\"'><iframe loading='\"lazy\"' id='\"widget2\"' title='\"How' to remove a tick from your dog and what do next with dan wolff src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.youtube.com%5C/embed%5C/rxt4WiXIPJc?rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1%5C%22" width='\"560\"' height='\"315\"' frameborder='\"0\"' allowfullscreen='\"allowfullscreen\"' data-mce-fragment='\"1\"'>\n<p><strong>Highlights from the Interview\n\n<p><b>How to Check for Ticks on Dogs\n<ol>\n<li>Ticks are small and hard to see in a dog\u2019s hair\n</li><li>Use feeling rather than only looking with your eyes\n</li><li>Push fingers through your dog\u2019s coat like a comb, feeling for bumps\n</li><li>On dogs, ticks are usually found on the face, head and neck\n</li><li>Ticks like dark areas and crevices\n</li><li>Be sure to check under the collar\n</li><li>Check in and around the ears\n</li><li>Check between toes, front legs, groin, and around the tail\n\n<p><b>What is the best way to remove a tick from your dog?\n<ol>\n<li>To avoid contact with dangerous bacteria, wear vinyl or other thin rubber gloves if available.\n</li><li>Use an inexpensive removal tool with a forked tip like\u00a0TickEase.\n</li><li>If a removal tool is not available, use tweezers.\n</li><li>With a forked tool, it\u2019s easy to go in sideways along the tick.\n</li><li>A small bit of flesh may come out with the tick bite.\n</li><li>Keep the tick so you can identify it.\n\n<p><b>How to Protect Dogs from Ticks\n<ol>\n<li>Do regular tick checks (as outlined above)\n</li><li>Ticks hide in grass, and shady, leaf-covered ground\n</li><li>Do a tick check whenever your dog has been in wooded areas or around brush\n</li><li>Mow, trim and clean up leafy, grassy areas in your yard\n</li><li>Consider using a bug repellent dog collar and\/or topical repellent\n</li><li>Use\u00a0permethrin treated clothes for dogs\n</li><li>Bandanas repel ticks around the neck and ears, one of their favorite places to hide and bite\n</li><li>Permethrin treated tank tops for dogs\u00a0help keep ticks away from the torso\n</li><li>And\u00a0repellent blankets\u00a0are great when your dog is laying down outside\n\n<p><b>What is the risk of a tick bite for a dog compared to a human?\n</b></p><p>This is where identifying the tick itself is important. You can use a free service like\u00a0TickSpotters. The younger the tick, the less likely it is to be carrying infection. It\u2019s important to know how old the tick is. Ticks on dogs tend to leave clear evidence of the tick bite. It becomes a hard and scabby, crusty welt. This may last weeks or months, but it has no bearing on whether the dog has been exposed to disease.\n</p><p><b>Should I take my dog to the vet when it\u2019s bitten by a tick?\n</b></p><p>Dogs will let you know how they are feeling. Unlike humans who may still go to work if they are feeling slightly unwell, a dog may seem low on energy, less enthusiastic about eating or going out. If you know you pulled a tick off a week ago and your dog is now not wanting to eat, this is a good indication to take the dog to the vet.\n</p><p>&nbsp;\n</p><div class='\"article-featured-collection\"'>\n<div class='\"section-header\"'>\n<h2 class='\"section-header__title\"'>Explore Insect Repellent Clothing for Pets\n\n<div class='\"grid' grid--uniform>\n<div class='\"grid__item' grid-product small--one-half medium-up--one-quarter aos-init aos-animate data-aos='\"row-of-4\"' data-product-handle='\"pets-trail-dog-bandana\"' data-product-id='\"7574875013344\"'>\n<div class='\"grid-product__content\"'>\n<div class='\"grid-product__image-mask\"'>\n<div class='\"image-wrap' rte__image><img class='\"grid-product__image' lazyautosizes lazyloaded sizes='\"214px\"' srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/LP1005_TrailDogBandana_POPL00903_Grey_Web_360x.jpg?v=1677803249' alt='\"\"' data-widths='\"[360,' data-aspectratio='\"0.75\"' data-sizes='\"auto\"' data-srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/LP1005_TrailDogBandana_POPL00903_Grey_Web_360x.jpg?v=1677803249'><img class='\"grid-product__image' lazyautosizes lazyloaded sizes='\"214px\"' srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/LP1009_TrailDogVest_ROYP01090_Grey_Web_360x.jpg?v=1678145300' alt='\"\"' data-widths='\"[360,' data-aspectratio='\"0.75\"' data-sizes='\"auto\"' data-srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/LP1009_TrailDogVest_ROYP01090_Grey_Web_360x.jpg?v=1678145300'><img class='\"grid-product__image' lazyautosizes lazyloaded sizes='\"214px\"' srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/LP1009_ORG_TrailVest_00951_Grey_Web_e4957220-788b-4269-95ab-40bc2a31bde1_360x.jpg?v=1703094950' alt='\"\"' data-widths='\"[360,' data-aspectratio='\"0.75\"' data-sizes='\"auto\"' data-srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/LP1009_ORG_TrailVest_00951_Grey_Web_e4957220-788b-4269-95ab-40bc2a31bde1_360x.jpg?v=1703094950'><img class='\"grid-product__image' lazyautosizes lazyloaded sizes='\"214px\"' srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/LP1008_LAKE_AirflowGaiter00871_Grey_Web_360x.jpg?v=1677797714' alt='\"\"' data-widths='\"[360,' data-aspectratio='\"0.75\"' data-sizes='\"auto\"' data-srcset='\"\/\/www.insectshield.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/LP1008_LAKE_AirflowGaiter00871_Grey_Web_360x.jpg?v=1677797714'>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2>Transcript of the Interview\n</h2><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\u00a0\n</b></p><p>We\u2019re here today with Tick Man Dan, Dan Wolf, our resident tick expert. But you know, you\u2019re in Massachusetts. So you\u2019re a resident of Massachusetts.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Right? But in my heart\u2026\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>That\u2019s right. In your heart, you\u2019re a resident of Seattle. We\u2019re open to, you know, visitors. The topic of today is dogs and ticks. And this is quite a big deal, even in the news. Lot\u2019s of people are concerned about ticks on their dogs. And I want to find out more. I know that we\u2019ve got a lot of viewers who would like to learn more about it, because there are a lot of questions. So we can just launch into those, Dan, although if you want to give yourself a little intro, that\u2019d be awesome.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Sure, well, thanks, Mark. It\u2019s a pleasure to be here, as always. I know this isn\u2019t the first time that we\u2019ve provided some information. I am here, as you said, in the Boston area of Massachusetts, and I\u2019m out all the time, in areas where there are lots of ticks. I am a family man with children who are older now, but have grown up worrying about ticks and fortunate, I guess, to have me as a dad, so I could sort of guide them through their tick encounters. I also have two large, goofy dogs, who are always getting ticks on them, regardless of what we do to prevent them. They\u2019re always very insidious little creatures that kind of can break down and get through our defenses. So I\u2019ve been studying ticks for about 25 years, and deer behavior and the relationship [between] the two of them in suburban Massachusetts, where we do have a very, very high tick and deer density now in our suburban settings.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Great. So you\u2019ve been studying ticks and working in this area for quite a while. And in fact, I think you\u2019ve innovated a tick removal tool. So we\u2019ll talk about that a little bit. I\u2019m really excited to have your knowledge and be able to, to put some of this out there. So I looked into this a little bit, and looked for the top questions about dogs and ticks. I mean, the first one that I found is people saying, you know, what should I do? Obviously, ticks are not great. Most people understand that. But how do you deal with ticks? And what\u2019s the best way to look for ticks on your dog?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>I get people calling me up all the time, regarding their pets, particularly their dogs. It\u2019s interesting, because cats certainly get ticks on them as well. But for some reason, they really hardly ever, if ever show symptoms of tick borne illness. So it\u2019s a little confusing, a little bit of a mystery as to why dogs can get terribly sick in certain instances, but cats seem to remain kind of immune to the exposure to these pathogens. Although if you have a cat, you certainly want to get ticks off if they pick them up. And the methods for removing these ticks on dogs and cats is the same. So I just wanted to put that out there to all of the cat lovers out there. And I know some people have dogs and cats at the same time. And given the close proximity, you know, the dogs that go outside can bring the ticks home and bring them to their feline friends.\n</p><p>As far as what to do with dogs. I mean, there\u2019s a lot involved here. And I get a lot of different questions from people. Regarding ticks and dogs, I think that one of the most important things at least in the northeast, and I\u2019d have to check to see the prevalence of disease carrying types of ticks in other parts of the country. But I\u2019m more familiar with what\u2019s going on here in the northeast, which is a pretty populous area of the country. And we do have a lot of people with what I\u2019ve experienced not to say that in other parts of the country, they don\u2019t, but we have a lot of people with good experience in the veterinary field regarding ticks, so the first thing I would say is it\u2019s important to properly identify ticks. And there\u2019s a couple of ways we can do that. I mean, you can study them and look online and try to match them up. But it\u2019s really difficult once the ticks become engorged or have taken a blood meal to tell them apart.\n</p><p>This is an adult female deer tick and this is unfed. So what you can see here is a coloration, you can see this part of the tick, which is called the scutum. It\u2019s kind of like a shell. Now, this is really important in identifying ticks, because there are specific markings on this part of the tick that can determine the type of tick. Why is this important? Well, this is important, because the\u00a0deer tick\u00a0in our area is the worst offender when it comes to being able to transmit disease, or they\u2019re called a \u201cvector.\u201d A vector is anything that\u2019s able to transmit disease from one thing to another \u2013 one creature to another. [Mosquitoes have been] the biggest offenders when it comes to vectors, and that is malaria and other you know, mosquito borne illnesses are starting to creep up, pun intended, in that area, with the types of diseases and the concern of the health community and for people and animals combined.\n</p><p>So we want to identify that tick, because the dog tick in our area here is not known for carrying too many diseases. It\u2019s possible they can carry things like tularemia or Rocky Mountain spotted fever. It\u2019s possible, much more common in the south. For what reason? I don\u2019t know. But up here, I consider the dog tick more of a nuisance, rather than a potential vector. So it\u2019s important to know, you know, so you don\u2019t want to freak out too much. Depending on where you are, regarding the type of tick, and on the dog tick the scutum is pretty clear. So you can tell from looking at that part of the tick, even if the back end of the tick is swollen up like a water balloon.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Can people go on line and find the ticks? I\u2019m assuming there are a lot of pictures out there that would show what a dog tick looks like.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Absolutely, you can find us online, real photos I\u2019ve got on the website (tickease.com). But, you know, the CDC has ID cards, usually your state public health department will have tick identification, they\u2019ll have a dedicated area, typically, for identification and information regarding tips and illnesses, right, is a good website that is a free resource. It\u2019s based out of the University of Rhode Island and I use it all the time, it\u2019s taken counter.org and then you search for the word tick spotters up on the menu bar. And then you can submit a picture and their experts will positively ID that tick. Of course, it\u2019s destroyed. But if the tick generally intact tic tac, they\u2019ll be able to provide you with a proper ID and then you know, you can decide whether or not I\u2019m going to worry about this or I\u2019m not going to so that\u2019s pretty much the you know the basic thing once your dog is has been bitten by a tick, okay, always, you know, the rule of thumb is when your animal or yourself have a tick you want to get that tick off, even if it\u2019s not gonna, you know, potentially transmit disease to you.\n</p><p>The idea is to get the tick off quickly and properly. So there are a lot of methods for that we can talk about that later if you want but identifying the tick and then just knowing sort of what happens in every scenario of what happens when your dog is bitten by a tick if it\u2019s engorged what should you do? How can you prevent and prepare yourself and you know I can I can help you with those questions too.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\u00a0\n</b></p><p>Yeah, well that\u2019s definitely the place we want to start I think because you know removing the tick we talked about this in another interview that we did but there\u2019s a lot of wrong ways or even some myths you know and kind of urban legends about the best way to remove a tick, and some amazing stuff actually trying to you know, not burn it but light a match and heat it up and then it pulls its head out, stuff like that. But I think like your tool for example has one side which is the kind of recommended side for humans, that very thin needle tweezers type that allows you to grab the head of the tick very carefully and remove it. But the other side that I have a question about is more like a kind of a forked tong thing, a scoop or a slotted spatula.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\u00a0\n</b></p><p>And yeah, it\u2019s important to understand these various methods for tick removal, and actually, I replied to one of my YouTube videos, this was funny this morning, and if anybody wants to check out some really good and kind of graphic at times, demonstrations of live tick removal, you can go to the YouTube channel and search TickEase. Please subscribe. I won\u2019t disappoint you as far as the growth factor goes, if you like that kind of stuff, but it\u2019s important to see what I\u2019m doing so that you can do it yourself. But this gentleman replied and somehow he equated the old methods of tick removal to wearing a mask. He said he was referring to using a match on the tick, and that it\u2019s been a tried and true method for decades and generations. Oh, and by the way, don\u2019t kill the tick because they have feelings too. And make sure you\u2019re always wearing your mask when you remove the tick.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Oh he was being sarcastic? He wasn\u2019t suggesting actually to wear a mask?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>I don\u2019t know. Not sure. Okay. People do wear gloves. And that\u2019s appropriate because the infectious agents are liquid.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>You can\u2019t inhale the infectious juices of the tick though, right?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\u00a0\n</b></p><p>Yeah, it hasn\u2019t become aerosolized. I call it yucky tick juice.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Right, your technical term.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>If you squeeze it, and this and the yucky tick juice comes out, and it\u2019s on your finger. Well, now you\u2019re a potential vehicle for exposure? Absolutely. So what I\u2019m getting at is that on dogs, and particularly long haired dogs, it\u2019s really difficult to first of all, detect the ticks when they first get on. And it depends on the time of the year because ticks have a life cycle, like everything else. And the baby ticks are smaller, just like people, babies are smaller than full grown adults are not exponentially. Yeah. It\u2019s really hard. For example, I don\u2019t know if I can show you all this, but this is what we\u2019re dealing with. When we talk about nymphal-stage deer ticks (they are) are tiny. And they\u2019re very tiny. Yeah. Are you going to find that on a St. Bernard? When it\u2019s just embedding itself? You\u2019re not.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>It looks like those ticks were socially distanced there in your in your tray.\n</p><div><img decoding='\"async\"' src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/cdn.shopify.com%5C/s%5C/files%5C/1%5C/0246%5C/4468%5C/1773%5C/files%5C/nymph-vs-fully-fed-deer-tick_1024x1024.jpg?v=1623091063%5C%22" alt='\"Nymph' vs fully fed deer tick>\n<p>Dan showing the difference in size between a nymph vs a fully fed deer tick\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>But okay, so you saw those were nymphs. So look at look at the larger one there. Right. Fully fed deer tick. That\u2019s just one. Yeah. I mean, it\u2019s hundreds of times expanded from its state. I mean, they have elasticity in their abdomens that will to swell up and become full of blood and yucky tick juice. Yes. What I do with my dogs is I\u2019m constantly feeling rather than looking. And I can you know, my dog loves it. So they climb up on my lap. And I\u2019ll just, you know, like what I do on myself on my own hair.\n</p><p>So you just massage the dog, and particularly around the base of the ears. On the chin, under the neck. Just pick out the crevices where the legs meet the body and right, the other area, the back of the tail.\n</p><p>13:50\n</p><p>But I usually find them on the face, head and neck. The ticks seem to like to gravitate to those areas. So when you feel them, you can feel the tick is going to be attached.\n</p><p>See this is called the hypostome here, that\u2019s the only thing that goes into your body is this little piece, that\u2019s that single piece. Okay, the tick is kind of flexible. When it\u2019s biting, it\u2019s biting like this, sometimes it\u2019ll lay a little flat and you can do this. So when you\u2019re feeling on the skin, you can feel like a little skin tag or a scab. And that\u2019s you got to take a closer look. And if you didn\u2019t find the tick, you\u2019ll be able to remove it now. That\u2019s what I say with dogs with long hair. You mostly find them by feel and then determine that this tick is in its feeding state or has become somewhat in gorged or fully engorged. Then you want to take the next step you want to say hi, I got to get this tick out. Right. And there have been a lot of methods over the years.\n</p><p>I happen to have a few of them here. These are what I actually recommend not using.\n</p><div><img decoding='\"async\"' src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/cdn.shopify.com%5C/s%5C/files%5C/1%5C/0246%5C/4468%5C/1773%5C/files%5C/1542_1024x1024.png?v=1623091332%5C%22" alt='\"Tick' removal tools: tickease versus tick spoon>\n<p>Tick Removal Options: Comparing the improved design of TickEase (left) to Ticked Off, or the Tick Spoon (right)\n</p><p>This is called the ticked off, or the tick spoon, which seems to have popularity. And it\u2019s okay, you know, it was designed a while ago, and on certain areas of your animal and flat areas with fully engorged ticks, it\u2019s fine.\n</p><p>What I did was I designed a, you know, similar method, which is the root. But compared to the footprint of the spoon, we have a much smaller, you know, area there, right, so it\u2019s easier to get into those tight spots. Like I said, it\u2019s the same idea, or the same concept here. Only this will be a lot more effective and tighter areas. Sure. I\u2019ve had ticks in my belly button. But I want to see you get that out of your belly button (with this tool).\n</p><p>And then this \u201ctick key\u201d, which is also very popular. I don\u2019t understand. Because what you do is when the tick is biting, I\u2019m hoping you can see this Yeah, actually, at the top, and you pull it this way. Oh, dear. You know, you\u2019re pulling sideways on a vertical penetration of that appendage. And that can only potentially weaken the connection and possibly break off that mouth part. So between your toes. And in your belly button, how the heck, you can get this to work there.\n</p><p>I mean, you know, there\u2019s other things like this crazy looking tool. And why you would want to go get so complicated.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Yeah, that\u2019s kind of space-age, though.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Just use a sharp tweezer. And you can just go, boom, you don\u2019t have to have spring loaded gadgets like this. But getting back to the dog. Alright, so your dog has an engorged tick. Basically, like I said, you\u2019re going to want to\u2026see my watch, I can\u2019t take that one off. But what you\u2019re going to do is you\u2019re going to want to go in, sideways, okay, so the tick\u2019s feeding like that. You want to go in this way. Okay? Not this way, right? Going this way on the tick. And when you go in that way, you\u2019re gonna wiggle it to the back. And then you don\u2019t want to pry it or twist it, you want to lift it slowly and steadily straight out.\n</p><p>And, you know, depending on the type of tick is they have different sizes of their mouth parts compared to their bodies.\u00a0Dog ticks\u00a0are kind of stubby and their mouth parts, and they can pop out a lot easier. But what I\u2019ve noticed is that most of the dog ticks I removed also grab a chunk of flesh. And so you\u2019re obviously a little white speck of flesh in their mouth. But that\u2019s fine. Don\u2019t panic about that because you want everything out, you know you\u2019ve got everything if it has a chunk of skin in it. Not all of them have that. But most of the ones that I remove do have that little piece of skin.\n</p><p>I mean, that\u2019s really what you want to do. And then people kind of freak out a little bit, which is understandable.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>So there\u2019s other questions I had. We\u2019ve talked about getting that tick out. And of course, that\u2019s the most important thing. So maybe compared to a bite to human because it\u2019s sort of the same risks, but how different or similar is the is the risk for a dog like what could happen if they\u2019re bitten by a tick, what\u2019s kind of the worst scenario?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Ideally, you have gotten a out before it\u2019s been on the dog very long, right? That\u2019s, that\u2019s important to the time that it\u2019s been, you know, biting. This is where identification comes into play, and what TickSpotters on the\u00a0tickencounter.org\u00a0website will do is this. They\u2019ll tell you the type of tick and at what stage of its life it\u2019s in. Because you have to understand that when ticks grow, and change, transition from one stage of life to another, they require a blood meal, to do that, to get the energy to go to another stage of life, or at the end to lay eggs and then die or mate, in the case of the males.\n</p><p><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"alignnone' wp-image-18470 src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/thefactsusa.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/12%5C/photo_2024-12-19_19-56-50.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"553\"' height='\"967\"'>\n</p><p>So they don\u2019t feed that often. But they\u2019re mostly starting from a clean slate when they\u2019re born. So the younger the tick, the smaller the tick, the less likely it has infectious agents within it. So but on the other side of things, even though it has less infectious agents in it as a nymph versus an adult, more people get sick from nymphs. Because they\u2019re much harder to detect because of their size, close to those nymphs I showed you earlier, versus the adults, which are substantially larger, even though they\u2019re still small, comparatively speaking, they\u2019re substantially larger. Yeah. So it\u2019s important to know what type of tick because if my dog gets a young dog tick on or in him, I\u2019m really not going to worry too much. But if it\u2019s an adult stage deer tick that\u2019s fully engaged, then I\u2019ve got to be a little concerned. So do I react the same with let\u2019s say, if it was my wife or my son? Versus my dog? No.\n</p><p>Because going to the vet, I mean, my dog gets ticks a lot more than I do. Yeah. And seems to be okay, although one of my dogs has had some disease. We didn\u2019t specify which tick borne illness but has had tick borne illness. I\u2019m going to assume it\u2019s Lyme. And we did treat him and he\u2019s fine, thankfully, but it\u2019s important to know a couple of things: ticks on, dogs tend to leave very pronounced evidence of the bite at the bite site. What I found is it\u2019s very strange, it gets hard, it can raise like a big welt in some cases, and becomes like a crusty scabby welt. And I don\u2019t, I mean, I certainly that wouldn\u2019t be caused for me to be freaking out. Because my dog\u2019s had tons of tick bites. And he seems to have this reaction quite often. And I think it\u2019s just a reaction to the bite. And that\u2019s it.\n</p><p>In the instance that he got sick, I didn\u2019t really notice anything unusual at the bite site. So regardless of exposure, a lot of dogs will get this big welt, crusty welt that looks like it itches and feels terrible. But my dog seems to not be bothered by it. And even afterwards, to this day, I know he had a tick bite on his, it\u2019s kind of near his tail. So I think it has that kind of effect on the animal, but that doesn\u2019t have any bearing on exposure to disease. I think that\u2019s just a separate issue. So I\u2019m trying to try to tell people not to freak out. Just because it has a crusty scabby welt after the bite. That\u2019s kind of typical.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>So I mean, how alarming is it? You know, you\u2019re saying you\u2019ve got to try to identify that tick on your dog once you remove it. But what about going to the vet? I mean, should people seriously consider taking the dog to the vet once it\u2019s been bitten or not?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>You can, although if it were me, my dogs would be going quite often and it would get kind of expensive. What I do is I let the dog and his behavior tell me what\u2019s going on. Because unlike people, dogs are pretty, you know, clear if they\u2019re not feeling well.\n</p><p>As far as what I know about tick borne illnesses, for example, you know, some people might feel a little tired, but they still go to work. They\u2019re not telling anybody because you know, it\u2019s just I\u2019m getting old or you know, I have allergies. I don\u2019t know what it is. And they may be infected. But well, dogs tend to\u2026 you know their behavior. My dogs are food obsessed. They are crazy when it comes to chasing squirrels and going on their walks and all that stuff like most dogs are, and just out of the blue one day, Charlie, he was laying down, it\u2019s time to eat. He just picked up his head and looked at me and put his head back down. Okay? This is not right. Okay, maybe he\u2019s got a little stomach thing. We waited a little while, a day or so. And he was still kind of lethargic. But then later that evening, usually he jumps right up on the chair, or on the couch. His back legs were like jelly, and he was limping. And I said, Okay, you\u2019re going to the vet. They wanted to do all sorts of tests. I said, you know, just put him on the antibiotics. Within five days he was back to normal. Three to five days. And he was he then kept on the antibiotics for a month.\n</p><p>A lot of people get their dogs vaccinated. I\u2019m not so sure what my opinion is on that. I don\u2019t have one either way. Personally, I don\u2019t get my dogs vaccinated. Because I\u2019m, I\u2019m just not you know, it\u2019s that whole vaccine thing, although I did get the covid vaccine. So I\u2019m not against vaccines.\n</p><p>But I\u2019m just kind of not sure about this particular one. And he\u2019s 12 years old, and he\u2019s had plenty of ticks and only had one bout with tick borne illness. So I\u2019ll leave that up to the dog owners out there. If they want to get that vaccine, that\u2019s fine. But notice these things, if you know if you know you pulled a tick off a week ago, and all of a sudden, your dog that will eat everything in sight is certain is all sudden loses interest in food? Yeah, but that\u2019s a pretty big red flag. Sure, absolutely.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Sure, absolutely.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>I would be hesitant to say, you know, this can cause fatalities if left untreated for a certain period of time. I\u2019ll leave that up to the professional veterinarians. I know, it can be debilitating. And I know, in certain breeds that are susceptible to dysplasia and other joint type issues, this may be a trigger to sort of accelerate natural problems in those joint areas.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Okay, so it can be a catalyst for, you know, longer lasting issues.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>For sure. I suppose if you didn\u2019t recognize the symptoms, and your dog stopped eating and stopped drinking, then, of course, that could be a major issue with malnutrition, and, and others. Plus, taking them to the vet, when you notice these symptoms. First of all, I mean, if you didn\u2019t notice a tick, that\u2019s one thing, but if you pulled off a tick recently, and then the dog is now showing symptoms, just go, you know, don\u2019t even question it. Just take him or her and get the antibiotic treatment. If you didn\u2019t realize that there was a tick, and they start feeling that way. Give it a day or so. It may be something unrelated, you know, my dogs get into things in the yard.\n</p><p>You know, let them see if it\u2019s gonna work it out themselves. If not take them to the vet. But I think that in and of itself, the Lyme disease is not going to kill the dog, it may make them suffer terribly with these joint issues, and lead to other types of symptoms. But, you know, rule of thumb is just if you notice something wrong, just try to get it addressed. And most of the veterinarians in our area, are pretty good at identifying the symptoms. But then again, you also want to know, if you can,\u00a0what type of tick\u00a0it was and not to worry so much about it.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Okay, because that was one question I had is should we get this tick analyzed, and we\u2019ll talk in another interview, at some point about, you know, the services that are available, and I know you worked with TickEncounter at tickencounter.org.\n</p><p>The last, I guess kind of question I have is how to, if there are ways to keep ticks off your dog. And I\u2019ve actually seen I didn\u2019t know that people do this, but they will spray their dog with a kind of repellent. And I think it\u2019s permethrin that that they will use which we offer, you know, spray cans of permethrin that\u2019s for treating clothing. We do not advertise it as for treating dogs. But is that something that people do? And you know, beyond that, what other ways are there that you can keep ticks away from your dog?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Well, there\u2019s a million different thoughts on that.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>How about you light a match next to your dog?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>I wouldn\u2019t try that. I saw on social media a couple years ago that somebody actually lit their dog on fire doing that.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>Crazy.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>You\u2019d say that can\u2019t be real, but apparently it was. And you know, given today\u2019s world I\u2019m not shocked.\n</p><p>I mean, there\u2019s a variety of different ideas. Some people are resistant to put, you know, the chemicals on but the permethrin based products have been around and tested forever. I think there might be some type of treated clothing that somebody is selling.\n</p><p>Oh, that\u2019s true. I\u2019ve heard that. Yeah, you can actually buy that. And in fact, we do sell clothing for dogs, you know treated with permethrin so that that might be one.\n</p><p>Right now what I tell people is, first of all, Insect Shield, in my opinion has the best products for not only repelling the ticks but killing the ticks. Permethrin is a wonderful, wonderful thing to use against ticks.\n</p><p>There are other things to use, but I just don\u2019t think they\u2019re that effective. I mean, you know I\u2019m talking humans here but DEET, picaridin, other seed oils or lemon, Eucalyptus and all these organic things. I think for ticks, it\u2019s just not going to have the punch that you get with the permethrin and the Insect Shield stuff. And I do tell people, you know, I will be a licensed distributor for Insect Shield coming up soon. We have a bandana that the dog wears around the neck. And this is important because dogs going through sniffing the grass. This is where most ticks get on them and then they start to move. If the ticks come in contact directly with the apparel, they will die; they\u2019ll fall off and die.\n</p><p>Unlike some repellents, which the dog may carry a tick inside the house, then the ticket is repelled but not killed. It jumps off or falls off and now it\u2019s in the house. I found them in my bed before. So I do think permethrin is the best pyrethroid based products, I\u2019m not aware of the ones that you would apply directly to the animal. But, you know, pyrethroids have been around since the old lice powders and shampoos. Perhaps there\u2019s now a product that\u2019s similar to that. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll have the impact that a treated apparel piece will have. Although I do recommend using the treated apparel on dogs, not to be used on cats, on dogs, as an added layer of protection on top of your preferred flea and tick preventative.\n</p><p>People are using Bravecto and Seresto and Frontline and Pet Armor and these types of topicals and other collars.\n</p><p>You know, and I\u2019ll leave that up to the pet owner to decide which one is the best. There\u2019s a product called Wondercide out there that you can apply directly to the animal. But you know, I\u2019m thinking Well, every time we go for a walk, am I gonna come in and spray the dog down? And how much of that stuff am I gonna go through? And yeah, is it good for the dog? Apparently it is shown to be safe. But I just don\u2019t know about that. That amount of activity. Or is this going to be costing an arm and a leg? I don\u2019t really know. But there are products out there. I prefer the ones with the punch rather than the less punchy ones like the organics.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>This is flea and tick that you\u2019re talking about specifically, are these going to repel? I\u2019m sorry, not ticks? Will the repellents that you\u2019re talking about you do put on the dog or collar? Is that effective against ticks? Or is it really for fleas?\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Yeah, no, it from what I understand, in particular, the ones I mentioned, are very effective or can be very effective against ticks.\n</p><p>As far as I understand, (Seresto) has been very effective. All of the feedback that I\u2019ve heard, has been very effective, although there have been some claims recently that there were having some adverse reactions on dogs, but it was a very, very low number compared to how long it\u2019s been out there and how many millions of collars have been sold. Sure. I don\u2019t know, you know, whatever an acceptable risk is, but that\u2019s again something that you\u2019ll have to determine yourself.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>As a matter of fact, you know, we\u2019ve we had some complaints quite a few years ago about permethrin and cats and so you know, that info sort of persisted. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s ever been a case of a cat you know, becoming ill from permethrin but that kind of builds on social media and whatnot.\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>What I say is unless you\u2019re going to submerge your cat in liquid permethrin or the cat\u2019s gonna eat like 1,000 treated bandanas, right? And you really don\u2019t have to worry about you know, if you have it on your dog and your dog and your cat are snuggling. I doubt there\u2019s going to be any effects whatsoever. Don\u2019t quote me on that. But that\u2019s my opinion, I think it has to do with the way that the product is metabolized, versus humans and dogs.\n</p><p>But then again, the reason that it\u2019s put on apparel is because once it dries, it becomes non water soluble, right? So it\u2019s hard for it to spread. But so you have to be careful when you\u2019re applying it. Also, when it\u2019s in its liquid form.\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\u00a0\n</b></p><p>Right. And that\u2019s, that\u2019s the beauty of the Insect Shield treatment, as you know: Even if we treat people\u2019s clothes that they send in to us, still the same process bonds to the fabric. It\u2019s a heat generated process. And once that\u2019s done, it\u2019s good to go for [five times longer than clothes you treat yourself with spray].\n</p><p><b>Tick Man Dan\n</b></p><p>Many, many washings. Yeah, yeah, I\u2019ve had good luck with that, I\u2019ve actually been able to put a bunch of live ticks on a bandana that was treated and did a video of that and watch them curl up and desiccate pretty quickly\u2026. I love watching that, because you know that you can hear the little ticks screaming. And it\u2019s like\u2026\n</p><p><b>Mark at Insect Shield\n</b></p><p>All right, well, on that note, I think we should probably wrap up our discussion of ticks and dogs.\n</p><p>Really appreciate it, Dan. It\u2019s always a pleasure talking with you and getting your insights about ticks. So I think we\u2019ll follow on with another interview at some point about testing of ticks, which I\u2019m looking forward to learning about. So thanks so much.\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"</p><p>An Interview with Tick Expert Dan Wolff of TickEase What should you do if you find a tick on your dog? 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